Singer 153W 100 Timing Issues

[JeffHami]

Was sewing on my Singer 153W when everything went to pot. It appears something slipped and the timing is all wack. The first problem I noticed is the pickup hook is now hitting the bottom of the feed dog. I went through and tried to make adjustments but the hook's beveled pinion does not want to stay engaged with the beveled pinion on the shaft. If I move it close enough for a better mesh the pickup hook of the bobbin strikes the needle. I tried loosed screws C and D and tapping on the gear but it does not want to move. I also have a problem with screw B of the bobbin assembly not able to tighten but screw A will . Any advice on how to solve them would be greatly appreciated. I hope I have give enough info.  

[JeffHami]

Not sure if this is the problem or not. It looks worn, but I'm not sure.

[Uwe]

Does the set screw your Cx3 arrow points to normally stick out like that? If it did it may have touched/rubbed/hit the cone gear above and cause the "wear" you are seeing.

I had one machine of similar design and it had the wrong length set screw on one of the holes on the hook driving gear. It was sticking out too much and touching the cone gear under the hook. It didn't sound good and I could feel resistance when turning over by hand. It took me a while to figure out what the problem was. I ended up filing down the too-long set screw and cutting a new top slot with my Dremel.

If the set screw on your machine worked itself loose and stuck out, then you'll have problems before too long.

For adjusting the "mesh" between the hook driving gear and the cone gear under the hook, it really is the hook driving gear (that Cx3 holds on the hook driving shaft) that needs to move to the right (instead of moving the hook saddle to the left).

The hook driving gear (Cx3) needs to be able to rotate and slide on the hook driving shaft when the Cx3 set screws are loose. That's how you time the hook on his machine. The gear may be stuck to the shaft because it's rusted in place or stuck due to oil varnish. I'd remove the set screws and drip some kerosene oil or WD-40 in the holes and warm whole thing up with a hair dryer. The crusty oil varnish will dissolve or soften and the hook driving gear will start to move on the shaft eventually. Then you can make proper adjustments.

 

Edited December 18, 2017 by Uwe

[JeffHami]

I had already loosened the 3 set screws that the arrow is pointing at so that is why it looks long.

Does the beveled gear on the bobbin assembly wear out?

[Uwe]

I'm guessing if the gears aren't meshed properly and there's too much play the teeth will catch on the edges on occasion and chip a little. 

[JeffHami]

Thanks for the help. I have taken all that section apart and I'm going to clean it and set everything back to factory specs. I did notice that part of my bobbin case lever tip is broken off, do you think this could be a problem. Picture of new and mine attached. 

[Uwe]

Yes, that broken bobbin case opener is a problem, I think, especially if the broken-off piece finds its way into some gear teeth. Here's what mine looks like on my Singer 153W102:

 

That finger needs to be able to pull back the bobbin basket to open up the thread path around the tab in the throat plate cutout. 

When you adjust that case opener finger position, make sure it doesn't bind in the far open position. The basket should still have a tiny bit of wiggle room when pulled all way to the right. Ideally the tab inside the throat plate cutout gets pulled just into the center of the cutout, not all the way to the other side.

It's easy to accidentally adjust the finger position too far without checking for a bind. Then you have a hard bind with every turn of the hook, and the finder will just fatigue and break off eventually (or the tab on the bobbin basket.) 

 

[JeffHami]

Thank you very much for that explanation. I saw where the square tip was locked into the needle plate and there was some motion, but the bobbin case lever tip didn't make any sense to me. It looked like someone set it to pull back too much and the tip broke off.   

[JeffHami]

Got my new bobbin case lever in yesterday and installed it this morning. As you can see from the picture I have a problem. The adjustment is set to as far as it will go and it still pulls back to far. If I mount down the needle plate it will jam everything. I either have to modify something or put the broken one back in. What would you do? 

[Uwe]

I'd try using the other screw hole first. Perhaps that is actually the original one. The screw hole you are using now may have been added to make the old combination work. Don't assume that the two holes have the same thread and pitch - you may need a different screw for the other hole. The tab on your bobbin case also looks like it's been filed down already. 

On my Singer 153W102 the hook saddle and the bobbin case opener finger look quite a bit different than yours, and my machine the opener is adjusted to the opposite end of the adjustment slot to make it work.

[JeffHami]

Thank you very much. I don't know how I missed seeing that second hole. The screw did work and now my adjustment is about in the middle. There are days I think I will go nuts before I work out all the issues on this machine. The good news is I am learning a lot as I go. 

[JeffHami]

When I went to go put the needle plate back on I notice that the finger of the bobbin lever was striking it and causing a jam. The only thing I saw that would solve that problem was to remove the small section of the needle plate where it was hitting and everything appears to be working now.